Of all the things in life that we hold most precious memories have to be near the top of the list. A faint odor can bring back recollections of something that happened decades before. We keep photographs carefully in family albums to help us with our memories. Many people have gone into a blazing home to rescue these photos. One of the worse things that can happen is for disease or old age to steal our precious memories. Long before humanity’s written history elders would pass down their memories through stories to the youth of their society. As with most important aspects of the human condition there has been a lot of science fiction over the years concerned with memories. They explore what it would be like if we could transfer our memories into a new body; effectively cheating death. Another popular scenario is to be able to somehow download our memories into a computer of some sort. They could then be experienced over and over or even given to another individual. This is a powerful theme. When we die all of our memories and experience is lost forever unless we had the time and foresight to write everything down. The concept of saving and transferring memories strikes a chord with the essence of what makes us human. There have been several endeavors to bring this concept to life on film but one of the best is a 1983 movie ‘Brainstorm’. Not only does it remain a cult classic among Sci-Fi fans it also was the last film by the beloved actress Natalie Wood. With that cinematic historical footnote aside this film still stands as a solid piece of entertainment complete with a strong story, above competent direction and better acting than usual for a film of this sort. Like many films of this type many have overlooked it in recent years. It lacks the current level of special effects that many fans now demand. Still, for a film that is almost twenty five years old it holds together. There is another chance to add this film to your collection with the new deluxe edition DVD released through Warner Brothers. There are some notable flaws to the film but they can be excused rather easily considering the overall fact that it is fun to watch. So pop some corn and call over some friends and have a good time.

The fundamental story for the flick came from Bruce Joel Rubin. This was his first time but he did go on to write the romantic fantasy ‘Ghost’ along with the confusing ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ and the Sci-Fi thriller ‘Deep Impact’. In charge of the actual script were Robert Stitzel and Philip Frank Messina. This was the initial screenplay for both men. The story is basically strong. Scientist invents a gadget that is able to record a person’s memories. When they are able to combine this with a playback device that enables another person to fully experience those recorded memories they know that they are sitting on a gold mine. It is nice to do something for the sake of broadening our understanding and pure research is noble but when you can make a fortune with a new discovering that is the grand slam. What the story does lack is a more humanizing set of back stories for the characters. They are written one dimensionally. What was needed was something to help the audience identify with the people involved here. This also throws off the romantic sub plot included. This is not to say that character development was not attempted it just isn’t able to rise above the sizzle of the device. The hat, as the device is called, might as worked better as a classic MacGuffin, something important to the characters but not the audience. In this story the gizmo completely takes center stage. It pushes the characters out of the way.

Directing this film is one of the most notable names in the genre, Douglas Trumbull. The thing is he is not as well known for his direction as he is for special effects. His only other notable directorial work before this was ‘Silent Running’, an incredible ecological Sci-Fi thriller that was decades before its time. What Trumbull is best known for is as one of the greatest special effects men ever. He handled the effects in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, ‘Blade Runner’ and the first ‘Star Trek’ movie. As mentioned the direction is competent but it could have been much more. There is no argument that the man knows special effects. He was at the top of his profession during a time when computer effects were little more than a dream. He had to physically create many of his effects. This does not always translate to an understanding of directing actors. Even though most will readily note the special effects are primitive you have to remember the time this was made; those effects wowed us back then. In this case Trumball turned over the effects to others instead of staying with his strong suite. He come close to making the direction work but doesn’t manager to propel the film to its potential.

A team of scientists have been working for years on capturing memories directly from the brain and recording them. This group includes an estranged married couple; Michael Brace (Christopher Walken) and Karen (Natalie Wood) as well as Lillian Reynolds (Louise Fletcher). Lillian is a constant smoker which is more than a character affectation it will come into the plot shortly. Key to their research is their discovery of how to play back the memories and experiences. They have just managed to reduce the size of the actual device to one that could easily be worn as the person moved around. The team considers the possible commercial applications of the device and wants to use it to record experiences full of excitement such as roller coaster rides and race cars. You just know that one of the less principled people on the team decides to use the device to make a sex tape. Once this is discovered he is fired creating the required disgruntled ex employee for later on. There is even a way to transmit the signals over the telephone if a proper receiver is placed on the other end. The team shows off the new technology to rich potential backers but once the word gets out the military see it as a weapon and means for espionage. Things take a dark turn when Lillian is having a heart attack and manages to place the hat on her head recording her own death. When Michael plays back the tape he is almost overcome but rapidly installs a block to allow the experience without the fetal ending. He also becomes with the actual experience of death and becomes obsessed with that last recording.

One thing that modern audience members will note is the recording media is a slivery tape. It is difficult to image that people recorded on tape but this was way before the digital revolution. Now you can get a few thousand gigabytes on something that fits in your pocket. While the story makes a few interesting points they get lost with the infatuation of the technology. The bottom line is this is a fun flick that will entertain with repeated viewings. Many fans of the flick have old video tapes of it but now we can move up to DVD. To bad the characters didn’t have digital discs back then.